Read the New Testament in 24 Weeks

A house waiting in the heavens

5 For we know that if our earthly house, our present “tent,” is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house no human hands have built: it is everlasting, in the heavenly places. ² At the present moment, you see, we are groaning, as we long to put on our heavenly building, ³ in the belief that by putting it on we won’t turn out to be naked. ⁴ Yes: in the present “tent,” we groan under a great weight. But we don’t want to put it off; we want to put on something else on top, so that what is doomed to die may be swallowed up with life. ⁵ It is God who has been at work in us to do this, the God who has given us the spirit as the first installment and guarantee.

The judgment seat of the Messiah

⁶ So we are always confident: we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. ⁷ We live our lives by faith, you see, not by sight. ⁸ We are confident, and we would much prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. ⁹ So we work hard, as a point of honor, to please him, whether we are at home or away. ¹⁰ For we must all appear before the judgment seat of the Messiah, so that each may receive what has been done through the body, whether good or bad.

The Messiah’s love makes us press on

¹¹ So we know the fear of the Lord; and that’s why we are persuading people—but we are open to God, and open as well, I hope, to your consciences. ¹² We aren’t trying to recommend ourselves again! We are giving you a chance to be proud of us, to have something to say to those who take pride in appearances rather than in people’s hearts.

¹³ If we are beside ourselves, you see, it’s for God; and if we are in our right mind, it’s for you. ¹⁴ For the Messiah’s love makes us press on. We have come to the conviction that one died for all, and therefore all died. ¹⁵ And he died for all in order that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised on their behalf.

New creation, new ministry

¹⁶ From this moment on, therefore, we don’t regard anybody from a merely human point of view. Even if we once regarded the Messiah that way, we don’t do so any longer. ¹⁷ Thus, if anyone is in the Messiah, there is a new creation! Old things have gone, and look—everything has become new!

¹⁸ It all comes from God. He reconciled us to himself through the Messiah, and he gave us the ministry of reconciliation. ¹⁹ This is how it came about: God was reconciling the world to himself in the Messiah, not counting their transgressions against them, and entrusting us with the message of reconciliation. ²⁰ So we are ambassadors, speaking on behalf of the Messiah, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore people on the Messiah’s behalf to be reconciled to God. ²¹ The Messiah did not know sin, but God made him to be sin on our behalf, so that in him we might embody God’s faithfulness to the covenant.

6 So, as we work together with God, we appeal to you in particular: when you accept God’s grace, don’t let it go to waste! ² This is what he says:

Look! The right time is now! Look! The day of salvation is here!

God’s servants at work

³ We put no obstacles in anybody’s way, so that nobody will say abusive things about our ministry. ⁴ Instead, we recommend ourselves as God’s servants: with much patience, with sufferings, difficulties, hardships, ⁵ beatings, imprisonments, riots, hard work, sleepless nights, going without food, ⁶ with purity, knowledge, great-heartedness, kindness, the holy spirit, genuine love, ⁷ by speaking the truth, by God’s power, with weapons for God’s faithful work in right and left hand alike, ⁸ through glory and shame, through slander and praise; as deceivers, and yet true; ⁹ as unknown, yet very well known; as dying, and look—we are alive; as punished, yet not killed; ¹⁰ as sad, yet always celebrating; as poor, yet bringing riches to many; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.

¹¹ We have been wide open in our speaking to you, my dear Corinthians! Our heart has been opened wide! ¹² There are no restrictions at our end; the only restrictions are in your affection! ¹³ I’m speaking as though to children: you should open your hearts wide as well in return. That’s fair enough, isn’t it?

Don’t be mismatched

¹⁴ Don’t be drawn into partnership with unbelievers. What kind of sharing can there be, after all, between justice and lawlessness? What partnership can there be between light and darkness? ¹⁵ What kind of harmony can the Messiah have with Beliar? What has a believer in common with an unbeliever? ¹⁶ What kind of agreement can there be between God’s temple and idols? We are the temple of the living God, you see, just as God said: